The 1946 meat strike in Queensland: A regional perspective

While the export meat industry has long played a central role in both the Queensland economy and its pattern of industrial relations, studies of the industry have largely focused on events around Brisbane. This article will attempt to remedy this lack of a regional perspective through its analysis of the 1946 meat strike in the city of Rockhampton. It will highlight the historical signifigance of export meatworkers in Rockhampton, while simultaneously highlighting how industrial events at Lakes Creek during 1946 provide an intriguing insight into the unity and the division of a workforce. During the course of the 1946 strike, one particular group of meatworkers attempted to organise themselves into a separate representative industrial organisation - the Central Queensland Meat Employees' Union. It will be argued that the tendancy of previous studies to characterise meat workers as either 'militant' or 'conservative' is over-simplistic.